The icon of Agios Nikolaos dominates the small museum of the ‘Nea Sinasos’ Association. Agios Nikolaos was the patron saint of Sinasos, a saint traditionally associated with the sea who found himself on the plateaus of Cappadocia, protecting the people of Sinasos who were always on the move. The Monastery of Agios Nikolaos (Saint Nicholas Monastery), carved into a cone-shaped rock, was built in the 10th century. Near the monastery, among orchards and water springs, there were three more churches dedicated to: Agios Ioannis Prodromos, Agios Ioannis Theologos and Agia Varvara. The icon of Agios Nikolaos arrived in Greece at the end of October, 1924, following the exodus of the Greek inhabitants of Sinasos.
In 2012, 88 years after the exodus of the Christian population from Sinasos and Cappadocia, the ‘birthplace of saints’, the Monastery of Agios Nikolaos was restored and reopened, with the Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos presiding over mass. For this first, celebratory mass, the Monastery filled again with Cappadocian Christians, children and grandchildren of the exchangeable refugees, who shared a deeply emotional experience. Since then, Agios Nikolaos is the only Christian monastery in Cappadocia where Orthodox mass can take place without a special permit from the authorities.
Extract from an interview with Vasiliki Papadopoulou, president of the ‘Nea Sinasos’ Association.